The present invention is an educational aid that can be utilized in teaching reading comprehension skills. Many readers may benefit from the use of this invention; however, it will be particularly useful for the reader whose nonverbal thinking style is enhanced by visual spatial strategies for mental organization.
Current professional literature embraces a refocusing of the goal of reading instruction from an emphasis on the mechanical translation of the written code to teaching reading as an active search for meaning. In this search for meaning, assessment of existing knowledge becomes critical to understanding. The process of integrating prior knowledge with new text information to create a new level of comprehension is central to the task of teaching reading.
To maximize reading comprehension, teachers need to find ways to help students activate and retrieve prior knowledge related to the topic about which they will be reading. Further, teaching strategies need to be utilized that will enable the reader to comprehend relationships between words and/or concepts. Educational research has documented that semantic mapping is an instructional strategy that has positive effects on improving reading comprehension relative to the integration of prior knowledge and the development of concept relationships.
Semantic mapping is a categorical structuring of information in graphic form. Readers can visualize how words and/or concepts are related. Several other synonymous labels such as semantic webbing, semantic networking, cognitive mapping, or plot maps have been used to refer to this instructional strategy. Presently, instructors or students create semantic maps as visual diagrams drawn on paper or on the chalkboard. The design and structure of semantic maps may have as many variations as the number of persons using them or may be dependent on the complexity of the text to be comprehended.
Some commonly used applications of the semantic mapping strategy are for general vocabulary development, for pre and post reading and for organizing content area concepts or nonfictional information. Some innovative uses of semantic mapping include syllibication, number and letter sequencing, visual discrimination of pictures or letters, recognition of math operations relationships and building story sequences. In all of these uses of semantic mapping, some kind of a relationship is being recognized between sets of information.
One object of this invention is the provision of a reading comprehension aid for the visual learner.
Another object is to provide an educational aid that involves a tactile/kinesthetic dimension when showing relationships of printed information.
Another purpose of this invention is to provide for a concrete level (rather than a paper and pencil task) of organizing concepts.
A still further aim of this teaching device is to provide a basic semantic mapping framework which is reusable and therefore allows for any concept relationships to be demonstrated.
With this invention four levels of descending relationships can be written on a semantic may which consists of movable pieces of decreasing size and/or different colors. First, the main idea or key concept is written on the largest central piece which is preferably an oval shape, for example, but is always the same shape. From this focal point, secondary categories of related vocabulary or information are written on smaller pieces having similar or different shape and connected to the main idea piece. Details related to the secondary categories are written on the third smaller size and connected to secondary categories. Lastly, sub-details can be written on the smallest size of the four pieces and connected to details. The pieces can be magnetized to reject improper connection in the pieces four different levels of related information. The structure of the semantic map may vary according to the reader's understanding of how to organize concepts.